Press Release:

Michael Garippa Joins SynCardia as President

Former CEO of TandemHeart to Champion Sales, Clinical Support, Training and Marketing for World’s Only Approved Total Artificial Heart

Michael Garippa, SynCardia’s new president

TUCSON, Ariz. – July 8, 2010 – SynCardia Systems, Inc., manufacturer of the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart, announced today that Michael Garippa, the CEO and President of TandemHeart for the last 8 years, has left the company to become SynCardia’s new president. Rodger Ford will continue as SynCardia’s CEO, concentrating on business development, while Mr. Garippa focuses on sales, clinical support, training and marketing.

“Now that the Freedom® portable driver is undergoing an FDA IDE clinical study in the U.S. and has received CE approval for use in Europe, stable Total Artificial Heart patients* are able to wait for a matching donor heart at home,” said Ford. “Michael’s experience will provide the launching pad SynCardia needs to serve more of the world’s top transplant centers and their patients.”

Mr. Garippa was recruited by TandemHeart in 2002 as a turnaround expert and stayed on as CEO and President. He took the company from an R&D firm that had lost an aggregate of $50 million and had no commercial sales to a successful company with over $6 million in net income in the past 24 months. The TandemHeart, which provides short-term extracorporeal circulatory support, is currently being used in more than 125 of the top cardiac centers in the U.S. as recognized by U.S. News & World Report.

“The Total Artificial Heart has no equal,” said Mr. Garippa. “It is the only FDA, Health Canada and CE approved Total Artificial Heart in the world. There is no other approved device that provides biventricular replacement for patients with both sides of their heart failing.

“SynCardia already serves 30 of the top transplant centers in the world, with an additional 22 centers currently undergoing SynCardia certification training. The Freedom portable driver has provided us with the opportunity to train additional transplant centers in the U.S., Europe and Australia/New Zealand.”

Prior to joining TandemHeart, Mr. Garippa served as CEO and President of Gateway HomeCare. In addition, Mr. Garippa was Founder and CEO of Millennium HomeCare and The Prompt Care Companies. His background also includes being National Sales Manager at Omni Medical and Senior Analyst with the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation. Mr. Garippa has a master’s degree from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University.

*Through the IDE clinical study, stable Total Artificial Heart patients who meet study criteria may have the option to be discharged from the hospital with the Freedom portable driver, to wait for their matching donor heart at home and in their communities.

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SynCardia Systems, Inc. in Tucson, Arizona is the privately-held owner and manufacturer of the world's first and only FDA, Health Canada and CE approved Total Artificial Heart for use as a bridge to transplant for people suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure in which both ventricles can no longer pump enough blood for a person to survive.

More than 1,350 implants of the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart account for over 400 patient years of life on the device. Since January 2010 more than 550 SynCardia Hearts have been implanted.

The youngest patient to receive a SynCardia Heart was 9 years old; the oldest was 76 years old. The longest a patient has lived with a SynCardia Heart was nearly four years (1,374 days) before receiving a successful donor heart transplant Sept. 11, 2011.

SynCardia Systems also manufactures the Freedom® portable driver, which powers the SynCardia Heart while allowing clinically stable patients to be discharged the hospital to live at home and in their communities. The wearable Freedom driver has been used by more than 200 patients, accounting for over 120 years of support

SynCardia Systems, Inc. in Tucson, Arizona is the privately-held owner and manufacturer of the world's first and only FDA, Health Canada and CE approved Total Artificial Heart for use as a bridge to transplant for people suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure in which both ventricles can no longer pump enough blood for a person to survive.

More than 1,400 implants of the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart account for over 400 patient years of life on the device. Since January 2010 more than 550 SynCardia Hearts have been implanted.

The youngest patient to receive a SynCardia Heart was 9 years old; the oldest was 80 years old. The longest a patient has lived with a SynCardia Heart was nearly four years (1,374 days) before receiving a successful donor heart transplant Sept. 11, 2011.

SynCardia Systems also manufactures the Freedom® portable driver, which powers the SynCardia Heart while allowing clinically stable patients to be discharged from the hospital to live at home and in their communities. The wearable Freedom driver has been used by more than 200 patients, accounting for over 130 years of support.